Dan Martin plans to 'cause chaos' in search of Tour de France victory

Ireland's Daniel Martin is one of three team leaders for Garmin-Sharp at this year's Tour de France. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

Although events can intervene and no doubt will do so, for the teams with pretensions to win this year's Tour de France, a simple question rears its head as the race starts: how can the favourites, Chris Froome, Richie Porte and Team Sky, be beaten? The British team were dominant last year with Bradley Wiggins, and carried on that form this season in every stage race where they have taken their A-team. Are there chinks in the black carapace, and if so where?

Not every team will have a plan, but Garmin-Sharp appear to have the makings of one. They are a team packed with strongmen, and have adopted a philosophy of strength in numbers, with three leaders: the American Andrew Talansky, the Canadian Ryder Hesjedal and the Irishman Daniel Martin, who has moved centre stage this season thanks to victories in the Vuelta a Catalunya and the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic.

"Sky's strength in numbers took everyone by surprise last year," said Martin, "and that's what led us to choose the team we have. The other teams will have seen weaknesses as well, and I hope we can take it to them." The Irishman notes that this year's route is less suited to the dominant style that won Sky last year's Tour, with more tricky stages of the type the French call "pitfalls".

"It will be unpredictable and cause surprises. Our aim is to cause chaos. We realised this season that we can win races with strength in numbers and it works better than having one single leader. It helps not putting your cards on one person, because one bit of illness or one crash can knock them out. It's better to have five guys who can be up there on GC, we're all happy to have team-mates around us in the mountains; it means we can take more risks, be more aggressive. I hope it plays to our advantage."

Going into this year's Tour, Martin says he is "in a really good place". That is hardly surprising, as his talent has truly come to fruition this year. He is a throwback, a cyclist who shines in both one-day and stage races – winning one-day majors such as the Giro dell'Emilia and coming close in the Tour of Lombardy, as well as winning the Tour of Poland and a stage in the 2011 Vuelta.

The Liège victory was something a little more significant, looking like the work of a rider at the height of his powers, and a collective triumph as well, with Hesjedal forcing the pace before the Irishman made his move. "It just feels like continual steady progress. All my career I've been getting closer every year. The confidence the team show in me helps: you have Ryder looking at me in the break in Catalonia, telling me I can win, the whole team riding for me at Liège. I thrive off that."

Much is made of Martin's cycling pedigree: his maternal uncle is Stephen Roche, and his father the former top British cyclist Neil. That does not entirely explain what his manager says is his best suit. "Tactically Dan is one of the smartest riders I've ever seen," said his directeur sportif at Garmin-Sharp, Jonathan Vaughters. "When he comes to the Tour the question is whether he can be consistent day in, day out. I hope the incredible tactical sense he has means he can put it together every day and then he will do an incredible Tour de France. I think he can do it."

If Martin can shine in a Tour expected to be dominated by Team Sky, that would raise many a wry smile, because for the Sky head Dave Brailsford and his talent-spotter-in-chief Rod Ellingworth, Martin is the one that got away. He raced with Great Britain as a junior but did not feel the track-focused under-23 programme suited him and went to race as an amateur in France rather than staying with GB and then took out Irish nationality. Ellingworth acknowledges that had the programme been solely road-oriented, they might well have hung on to him.

Last year, the Birmingham-born 26-year-old began the Tour below par after a crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné, picked up bronchitis a few days in, and struggled from then on. "It was hard to get through every day, and a few days I didn't think I was going to finish. I still came out stronger in the final week and that highlighted to me that I can be successful in this sport.

"This year I want to get to the mountains safe and healthy and then test myself. I don't aspire to be successful, but to see how good I am, to test myself on the biggest stage, up climbs like Mont Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez. I enjoy racing, like that aggressive style, and I love thinking tactically. It's not often that the strongest guy wins in this sport, and that's something I love about it."

Sign up for the Guardian Today

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.